New to the forum!

I am new to the board and love reading all of these topics whether they have an effect on my UC or not. I was diagnosed with UC that is localized into the Rectum in 1984. I have gone through long remissions and short remissions, the longest of which was almost 10 years! I was in denial when it started up again and I am currently in a flare up that has lasted 8 months.

To make things even worse I had a mild TIA 3 1/2 years ago and the preventative prescription I take for this contains 50 mg of aspirin which promotes bleeding. I am now taking 2 x 1.2 G of Lialda dadily and use a Rowasa enema every other night. The bright red blood is subsiding but as someone else had mentioned it seems like a good day is always followed by a bad day.

I am going to start paying more attention to what I eat. You would think that after 27 years of this I would have done this, but the long remission really through me for a loop, I thought I was "cured". Let's face it I live in Nebraska so I love beef, but I am beginning to think that is part of my problem. I am also a Diet Coke drinker and I am going to eliminate this, but wonder if it is an Aspartame issue or is it soda pop in general? I really like Crystal Light, but am I just substituting one bad product for another? I am interested in people's thoisught on this.

I did read a post that one member said to get probiotics into your diet. Has anyone on the board familiar with Kefir (http://www.kefir.net/)? My Wife and I have been having a smoothy every morning that we make with Kefir and the only thing I can think of that is not good for UC is the fact we make it with Skim Milk. Any comments or thoughts would be appreciated.

There are tons of posts on kefir, some of them current. Just skim through the recent topics and you'll find some, or do a search on the word "kefir" and lots will come up.

One popular theory about UC is that it is the result of bad bacteria in your digestive tract. The SCD diet is supposedly designed to eliminate foods that nourish bad bacteria and choose foods that help and nourish the good bacteria. Drinking kefir and taking probiotics dovetails well with the bacteria thesis since it replenishes good bacteria in the digestive tract.

Diet soft drinks have been shown to encourage malevolent gut flora. I can eat small amounts of sugar to sweeten coffee or tea but high fructose corn syrup in regular soda also causes problems for me. I like iced tea sweetened with stevia, or even if it is sweetened with a little sugar then it might still be better than diet coke. But the SCD rules say you should also avoid sugar. You could sweeten it with a combination of stevia and sugar until you get accustomed to stevia alone.

Another major problem food is gluten. You can try to avoid wheat and rye products for 2-3 weeks to see if that is one of your triggers.